Viktor Bout was a Russian entrepreneur, a war profiteer, an aviation magnate, an arms smuggler and strangest of all, an amateur filmmaker. Dubbed the "merchant of death," Bout can justifiably be called the world's most famous arms dealer and this is a portrait of his life, much mythologized but little understood.

THE FILMS

The Notorious Mr. Bout (Tony Gerber, Maxim Pozdorovkin | 94 min.)Viktor Bout: Ruthless businessman and arms trader; The Merchant of Death; a man desperately hunted by the DEA and UN Arms investigators alike; friend and supporter of genocidal Congolese leader Jean-Pierre Bemba; an elusive figure who could not be photographed; home video enthusiast. As a young entrepreneur in the newly capitalist Soviet Union, Bout saw opportunity where others saw only desperation. While his countrymen were fighting in the streets for necessities as simple as food, Bout began importing basic and luxury consumer goods from the other side of the recently-crumbled iron curtain.

Through Bout’s own lens we are gifted a first-hand glimpse of globalization and the inner-workings of a criminal enterprise. Viktor Bout was a man who willingly shipped televisions, medicine and guns alike in the holds of his planes. As capitalism found new markets, Bout followed, recording himself, his friends, his family, the jungle, the wind-swept desert, the hijab-covered women, the smiling village children, and the military leaders who murder their own people. A diligent documentarian with his beautiful and unflappable wife Alla at his side, Bout captures images both mundane and extraordinary.

Rarely has a documentary provided such intimate access into the life of a high-profile criminal. Though his life was the basis for the unironically titled Nicolas Cage vehicle Lord of War, directors Maxim Pozdorovkin and Tony Gerber show Viktor Bout to be shockingly human. In this comic and complicated portrait, the filmmakers explore the life of a man who is neither innocent, nor totally guilty, but undoubtedly notorious.

-Sarah Feuquay

MUSIC

Olga BellBorn in Moscow and raised in Alaska, Olga Bell is an American composer, producer and performer based in Brooklyn. A prodigious classical pianist as a child and teenager, Bell graduated from the New England Conservatory at age 21 before moving to New York City to pursue electronic composition and songwriting. The past nine years have seen Bell's steady rise from the city's open mics to performances at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center.

Bell makes original music, remixes and videos under her own name. As half of Nothankyou, Bell makes dance music with British musician Tom Vek. In 2012 Bell joined Dirty Projectors for the band's Swing Lo Magellan cycle and remains a keyboardist and singer with the band today.

Rooftop Films is a New York based non-profit whose mission is to engage diverse communities by showing independent movies in outdoor locations, producing new films, coordinating youth media education, and renting equipment at low cost to artists.